Growth and physicochemical properties of L-phenylalaninium maleate: a novel nonlinear optical crystal.

Single crystals of novel organic nonlinear optical material, L-phenylalaninium maleate (LPM) having dimensions up to 10 × 6 × 6 mm(3) were grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at room temperature. The grown crystals were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and the various functional groups were identified by FT-IR spectroscopic analysis. The optical properties were studied by optical absorption, second harmonic generation (SHG), photoconductivity and photoluminescence (PL) studies and reported for the first time.